Apparatus for charging blast-furnaces



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

. F. W. GORDON.

APPARATUS FOR GHARGING BLAST FURNACES.

No. 290,037. v Patented Dec. 11, 1883.

A TTORNEY (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

I. W. GORDON; j

APPARATUS FOR CHARGING BLAST FURNACES.

No. 290.037. Patented Dec. 11, 1883 Many Y 7 7 W] T NESSES [NI EN TORUNITED STATES PATE T ()FFICEQ Y FRED. WV. GORDON, OF PITTSBURG,PENNSYLVANIA.

APPARATUS FOR CHARGING BLAST-FURNACES;

SPECIFICATION-forming part of Letters Fatent No. 290,037, dated December11, 1883.

' Application filed September 27, 1883. (No model.) A

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRED. W. GORDON, of Pittsburg, Allegheny county,Pennsylvania, B have invented certain new and useful Improvements inCharging Arrangements for Blast- Furnaces, of which the following is aspecification.

In blast-furnaces having their throats fitted with bell and hopper anannular channel is IO formed by the bell and hopper for receiving thecharge from buggies or barrows dumped from the platform orcharging-plate. These barrows, being two-wheeled arrangements of smallcapacity, are taken up by the lift, and

I 5 then wheeled from the lift-house to the platform, and then dumped.

Good intentions and honest labor might insure that the dumping wouldtake place uniformly around in the hopper; but it is the experience ofmost furnacemen that the men engaged as fillers, being entirely beyondthe reach of supervision, are prone to dump their buggies at that pointin the hopper nearest to the lift-house, so as to avoid labor.

This present invention relates to an arrangement of buggies andguiding-tracks for the same, arranged in such manner that the chargingis effected at four points in the hopper, which is practically an equaldistribution of the charge.

The invention will be understood from the following description,taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is avertical section of the top of a 3 5 blast-furnace fitted with myimproved charging arrangement, and Fig. 2 a plan of the same;

In the accompanying drawings, A represents the throat of ablast-furnace; B, the platform or charging plate; B, the extension ofthe same toward the lift-house, as usual; 0, the hopper; D, the bell; E,the rod sustaining the bell; F, two parallel tracks on the platformacross the top of the furnace, one on each side of the center of thethroat; F, extensions of 4 5 said tracks toward the lift-house; G, afourwheeled buggy having a capacity of two or more of the usual barrows;H, the two discharge-openings of the buggy, arranged angularly at thetwo ends and bottom, as shown; I,

the bottom of the buggy, arranged in the form of a double incline, so asto distribute the contents of the buggy fairly between the two dis-[charge-openings; J, hinged doors for closing the discharge-openings; K,chains from the lower edge of the doors to a reel attached to thebuggy-truck; L, a ratchet on the chainreel; M, a pawl for said ratchet,and N stiffening-bars on the sides of the buggy.

The buggies run upon the track. The tracks are of such distance apartand the two dis- 6o charge-openings in a buggy are of such distance fromeach other that when two buggies are run upon the tracks and stoppedmidway over the throat of the furnaceas by a stopblock properly locatedupon the track, for instancethe four discharges from the two cars willtake place at points equidistant around the hopper. By these means auniformity of distribution of charge is effected not possible by anyother means of simple buggy-charging. There are only four chargingpoints, and these points are fixed beyond the control of the men engagedas fillers.

The buggy may, as mentioned, be stopped by means of a stop-block, or thetrack may be provided with a broad bridge or diaphragm at a point justbelow the truck, so that the buggy will not discharge its load into thefurnace at all unless the buggy be properly located before the doors aredropped.

The two tracks may leadseparately to sepa rate lifts or to separatestanding tracks upon a large lift-platform; or they may converge to asingle track-leading to a single lift. In case the lift is arrangeddouble, or with double track, the buggies are bound to be dischargedinthe order in which they are placed upon the lift below-that is, a fullbuggy put in the right-hand side of the lift when below can only bedischarged into the right-hand side of the furnace-throat. In the caseof the diverging track the buggies, as they come up, may of course allbe run over the furnace on one of the tracks, and the charge thereforebe unevenly distributed; but as this method would result in no saving oflabor to the filler it is not liable tobe followed.

I consider the method of charging in large buggy-loads as conducive toeconomy of labor and a more thorough admixture of charges, independentof the evenness of distribution effected by the track system specified.

The winding up of the reel upon the buggy draws the doors shut by meansof the chains, and

IOO

the pawl locks the doors. Vhen the pawl is disengaged, the doors flyopen to the full extent permitted by the length of the chain and assumepositions as deflecting-plates, to govern the direction, to some extent,of the discharges. In the absence of the doors, when open, the loadswould be projected lengthwise the car to a greater or less extent,dependent upon the slope of the bottom of the car and on the characterof the material being charged. Each furnace would in such case need tobe provided with buggies especiallyadapted to some trifling peculiarityof size and to peculiarity of material.

By the arrangement of the doors as deflectors, as specified, the buggiescan be adapted, within reasonable limits, to almost any size of furnaceand to any character of material. The length of the chain needs only tobe made such as to secure, at their full extension, the properdeflecting-angle for the open doors.

It is a common practice in the construction of doors for differentsituations to provide the doors with a stop to limit the distance whichthey may open, and also to provide them with various contrivances forlatching them when shut. I therefore do not confine my invention to areeled chain as a means for closing and locking the doors, nor to afiXedlength of chain as ameans for limiting their degree of opening.

I claim as my invention In a blast-furnace-charging arrangement, thecombination of the bell and hopper,traeks built over the hopper, asdescribed, and a dumpingcar having two discharge-openings adapted todischarge, substantially as set forth.

FRED. XV. GORDON.

WVitncsses:

F. E. FIoKEs, THOMAS DEEGAN.

